Health Discoveries in Brain Injury
New center focused on long-term effect of concussions
August 23, 2010
The new Michigan NeuroSport Concussion Program at the University of Michigan is focusing on the diagnosis, prevention and research related to concussions.
How concussions, a mild form of brain injury, affect the brain has gained significant attention in recent months as the National Football League and National Collegiate Athletic Association both established committees to study how to best protect their athletes.
"There has been considerable attention paid to concussion recently, by the media and others, spurred by reports of National Football League players and hockey players contact having a very particular kind of dementing illness," said Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, assistant professor of neurology and head of the new program. "We need to do more research to figure out what it is about the hits that leads to this problem."
Kutcher has been instrumental in crafting the concussion policies of the NCAA, Big Ten and Mid-American Conference. Concussions are being treated more seriously, as evidence is mounting that repeated impacts to the brain typical in sports injuries can have a lasting effect.
The 21-bed Regional Brain Injury Center at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, New York, is the only rehabilitation center of its kind on Long Island. The center is part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System.
How concussions, a mild form of brain injury, affect the brain has gained significant attention in recent months as the National Football League and National Collegiate Athletic Association both established committees to study how to best protect their athletes.
"There has been considerable attention paid to concussion recently, by the media and others, spurred by reports of National Football League players and hockey players contact having a very particular kind of dementing illness," said Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, assistant professor of neurology and head of the new program. "We need to do more research to figure out what it is about the hits that leads to this problem."
Kutcher has been instrumental in crafting the concussion policies of the NCAA, Big Ten and Mid-American Conference. Concussions are being treated more seriously, as evidence is mounting that repeated impacts to the brain typical in sports injuries can have a lasting effect.
The 21-bed Regional Brain Injury Center at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, New York, is the only rehabilitation center of its kind on Long Island. The center is part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System.